The realization must have taken me an entire year, a year since our escape, our freedom from between the stained walls of that unholy establishment, but what does it mean to escape, if the escape fails to unchain the bonds that shackle us in the first place? What purpose could this empty world possibly hold for us, a handful of damaged goods?

With our newfound freedom, we sought purpose - and what we found was only realization. Realization of the sad pointlessness of such an endeavor. Realization that freeing our bodies has no meaning, when our imprisonment reaches as deep as the core of our souls. Realization that we can not pursue new purpose without absolving those from which we ran away. Realization that the farther we run, the more forcefully our wretched bonds yank us back toward their point of origin, our shackles digging deeper into our callous flesh.